A machine is known from DE 10 2005 011 306 where a frame defines a station for workpiece pickup and/or dropoff and a drive spindle defines a machining station for holding one of the workpieces and rotating the held workpiece on the frame about a vertical axis horizontally offset from the station. A carousel on the frame rotatable about a vertical axis horizontally offset from the machining station and carrying a plurality of tools having shanks. A vertical guide on the frame carries a vertical slide for movement in a vertical direction on the frame, and a horizontal guide on the vertical slide carries a horizontal slide for movement in a horizontal direction on the vertical slide between a position juxtaposed with the machining station and positions juxtaposed with the carousel and with the transfer station. A tool head is rotatable about a vertical axis on the horizontal slide and carries at least one tool socket adapted to fit the tool shanks and, angularly offset therefrom, a workpiece grab. This tool head can move horizontally in two directions to pick up and drop off tools and move workpieces between the transfer station and the machining station, and can also move vertically during machining of a workpiece rotating in the machining station.
Thus this equipment is quite complex, requiring numerous guides and actuators for movement of the tool head in three dimensions, and as a result the control system is also fairly complicated.